Sunday, January 31, 2010

The Aeropress is taking its victory rounds online and in real life in the coffee shop.
When we first launched the Aeropress in the coffee shop back in June we kept kinda quiet about it. We wanted to try it out with the regulars first and get feedback from our baristas on the brew recipe. We've changed it slightly several times since then, very much inspired by the work of Tim Wendelboe and his World Aeropress Championship.

Our current recipe was fine-tuned by Casper over the course of several weeks and really aimed at bringing out all the aromas in the coffee. We're still using the same profile for all our coffees, but perhaps in time, we'll develop separate brew profiles for individual coffees or roasts.

The biggest problem with brew recipes - in my opinion - is grind size. We've found that a small adjustment in grind makes a huge difference in the cup. Particularly with the Aeropress. Grinding just a little too fine and we'd get a slight bitterness and a bit too coarse and we wouldn't get all the delicate aromas. This presents a problem when we want to communicate a brew method to home consumers, since most don't even posses a grinder that can be as finely adjusted or will grind as evenly as the Mahlkönig VTA-6 we use. So please, do experiment with the grind to really nail it!

So, here is the current profile:

16 grams of coffee
Ground somewhere between a filter grind and french press - leaning to the coarser side.
170 ml. water of 92-95º Celcius
Steeping time 2 minutes

We use the Aeropress upside-down (or inverted as some like to call it). Put the rubber part just below the number 4 mark. Put the freshly ground coffee in it, add the water - use a scale for accuracy if you're a supergeek - and stir very well just as you have poured the water. Steep for two minutes and meanwhile rinse the paper filter in the filter holder with lots of hot water. Stir again after the two minutes, put the filter in the filterholder on and screw tight. Now carefully turn the Aeropress over and press into a sturdy cup or pitcher.

The advantage of this method is the total immersion brewing like you have in a French Press. But with the Aeropress you get a much cleaner cup. None of that dusty mouthfeel you sometimes get in a French Press, especially towards the bottom of the cup. We tried a lot to see if we could use a finer grind and shorten the steeping time, but the aromas really never came through as well as with the 2 minute steep time. In theory you should be able to grind finer and shorten the extraction time, but in reality we find it just doesn't work as well as this profile.

Anyway, the main reason we love to sell the Aeropress remains the amount of options you have with it. So do experiment! We've had lots of feedback from customers who use it in a variety of ways. Some grind very fine and use very little water to produce a very strong cup and others use it just like a French Press with a very coarse grind and 4 minute steep time.

You're right. I tried it and the results were good. Much better than the massively updosed concentrated brews I was making before. I'll have to play with the grind a bit, but I think you just put the aeropress back into my rotation. Thanks again.

I have started grinding between an espresso and turkish grind. I compact the coffee. I pour the water @ 180 degrees and immediately start a press. I have my press timed to take 45 seconds. The packing of the grounds is important. I only have a round flat stick I use to pack the grounds. This gives a completely different taste that I like.

I have to give this a try. I've never liked this method very much(good for traveling though) because you both need more coffee to give the same strength as you normally get and also because the acidity is taken away and it leaves me with very smooth profile and to me dull and boring.

But for traveling it's very handy and beats all hotel coffee by miles.

Anyone think this method would work to make 2 full cups of coffee? Double the coffee amount, and then dilute after the press? There has to be a way to use aeropress for more than a single cup with using double the amounts of coffee as per the aeropress instructions.